Breakfast Ball #29: Xander Triumphs in Troon

What a tournament. Links golf always delivers, and we only get it for two weeks each year. That has to change soon.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Xander Schauffele Shoots Final Round 65 to Win the Open Championship

On May 13th of this year, Xander Schauffele was reeling.

He had not won since the Scottish Open in 2022, and had given up two final day leads at the Players Championship in March and the day prior in the Wells Fargo Championship. That day, Rory McIlroy started one behind Schauffele. By the time they stood on the 18th tee, McIlroy was seven shots clear. It was a demolition job, and Xander had to turn around quickly to prepare for the PGA Championship at Valhalla that week.

Prior to this year, Schauffele had twelve top tens and five top fives in major tournaments, but had yet to break through. Many doubted if he ever would as he played incredibly consistent golf that rarely resulted in victory. Then, he bounced back and won the PGA Championship by one shot ahead of Bryson DeChambeau. Xander silenced some doubters that week in Kentucky, but many discounted the win as Valhalla did not provide a true major championship test.

Schauffele’s performance at Royal Troon this week has silenced any doubters that remained. A final round 65 was the best score of the day by two shots, and over eight strokes better than the average on Sunday. Going into the back nine, Thriston Lawrence of South Africa was leading the tournament by one shot. Then, birdies from Schauffele on 11, 13, 14, and 16 propelled him into the lead and he walked down the 18th hole to a standing ovation from the Scottish crowd: “That walk up 18 truly is the coolest with the yellow leaderboards and the fans and the standing ovation. I got chills.”

Xander had been knocking on the door of a major win for many years. Now, he has two. In the words of the All-Ireland winning captain Tony Kelly, Xander “kicked that door down.”

Shane Lowry and Justin Rose the best of the Europeans as McIlroy, Fleetwood, and Åberg all Miss the Cut

After day two of the Open, Shane Lowry was leading by two and playing incredible golf. He had navigated difficult conditions to card rounds of 66 and 69. He was in pole position to win his second Open Championship, but then things fell apart. In brutal conditions on Saturday afternoon Lowry lost his composure on the back nine and ended with a 77, leaving him three shots off the lead going into the final round. Despite a strong Sunday, it was too much to recover: “Yesterday afternoon wasn't a high point in my career. Those nine holes, I'm probably going to rue them for a while, but it is what it is now.”

Justin Rose had his best major performance since 2018 as he finished in a tie for second with Billy Horschel. Rose was in the lead at one point on Sunday with birdies on 2, 4, and 8, but couldn’t build on them in the back nine and a bogey on the 12th effectively ruled him out of contention. “Two major championships this year, strongest fields in golf, they've been my two best weeks. I'm looking for those big stage moments, and today was nearly it. It was a lot of fun.”

Other Results:

• ☘️ Rory McIlroy, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tommy Fleetwood, 🇸🇪 Ludvig Åberg and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tyrrell Hatton all missed the cut

  • McIlroy: “when I look back on the two majors that I didn't play my best at, here and the Masters, the wind got the better of me on Friday at Augusta, and then the wind got the better of me the last two days here.”

• 🇪🇸 Jon Rahm had his best major performance since joining LIV Golf, finishing in T7

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Daniel Brown, ranked 272nd in the world and making his major championship debut, was one of the stories of the tournament. He led after day one and was right in contention until a difficult finish on Saturday. Despite that, he finished in T10 and secured a spot in next year’s Open as a result

• 🇮🇪 Padraig Harrington, 🇸🇪 Alex Noren, 🇦🇹 Sepp Straka, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Ewen Ferguson all finished in the top 25

The Open Championship in Numbers

9

The number of players under par at Royal Troon. A combination of the weather and a fantastic course made for a true major test.

8.15

Schauffele’s 65 was 8.15 strokes below the field average on Sunday. He separated himself from the pack and romped home to victory.

1982

The last time all four majors in a calendar year were won by American golfers before 2024. Americans have won the last seven consecutive majors and nine of the last ten. Yet they still couldn’t win the Ryder Cup…

250,000

The number of attendees at The Open. Scotland is the home of golf, and the crowds certainly proved it. Driving rain and wind still didn’t stop people from getting to Troon and cheering on the world’s best.

47

The number of golfers that have won two or more majors. Xander Schauffele joined that illustrious list this weekend. Current active players that have won two include Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, and Bryson DeChambeau

Coming up this week on Tour

• The 3M Open on the PGA Tour in Minnesota

  • There will be a weak field here as most top players are gearing up for the Olympics in two weeks

• LIV’s next tournament is at the JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire, England

  • This will be worth a watch. The course has a number of interesting holes including an island green par-3 17th

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